Spy leaks: MI6 tried to recruit N. Korean asset with S. African help

MI6 tried to recruit a North Korean asset to infiltrate the secretive regime. The UK spy agency requested South Africa’s help to establish a “long term clandestine relationship in return for payment,” according to leaked spy cables.

Al Jazeera’s
Investigative Unit obtained the cable, titled “Secret UK/SA
eyes only,” which revealed that the British secret service
requested help from South Africa’s Security Agency (SSA) to gain
intelligence inside North Korea.

The cable shows the British requested support from South African
agents for a clandestine intelligence officer. The MI6 operative
would intercept the potential North Korean asset while in transit
between flights “and encourage him to accept a long-term
relationship with SIS,” referring to MI6’s other name, the
Secret Intelligence Service.

The British asked South African agents to “provide covert
surveillance to identify [X] on his arrival” reportedly at a
South African airport while he was in transit and “securely
house him whilst our officer makes contact.”

MI6 provided information on the identity of the North Korean
asset, including a job description, occupational history and
detailed travel plans. The person’s identity has not been
revealed by Al Jazeera.

“The involvement of South Africa's authorities would not be
apparent to the target – our officer would appear to be acting
alone,” said an e-mail.

The secret cable also reveals that an MI6 officer approached the
target a year earlier, held a two-hour meeting with him and
offered an undisclosed amount of money for his cooperation.

Of the proposed joint operation, the cable read: “If
successful, it could greatly assist our ongoing efforts to gain
coverage of North Korean proliferation activity. Many thanks for
your ongoing cooperation against this important target, which we
hope will increase further in future.”

The spy cables do not disclose whether the South Africans agreed
to provide the assistance requested by MI6, or whether the
operation took place. It is also unknown whether the potential
North Korean asset accepted the British offer.

Al Jazeera called the documents “the largest intelligence
leak since Snowden,” which also include papers from Israel's
Mossad, Russia’s Federal Security Service, South Africa’s SSA and
Australia’s ASIO.

The files cover activity between 2006 and 2014 and they will be
published over the coming days together with The Guardian, to
provide “an unprecedented insight into operational dealings
of the shadowy and highly politicized realm of global
espionage.”